Guest eligibility, application process and checks: Homes for Ukraine
Who can apply to the scheme, how the application process works, and the checks that authorities must complete.
Eligibility for the scheme
This scheme is open to people from Ukraine who were residents there before 1 January 2022, and to their immediate family members (for example spouse or partner and children under 18). They do not have to be Ukrainian citizens to be eligible.
For applications submitted after 3pm on 19 February 2024, eligible applicants may be sponsored by people who are British or Irish citizens or settled in the UK (which means having the right to live in the UK permanently). As of 31 January 2025, if the applicant is a child, they may also be sponsored by a parent or legal guardian who holds permission under any of the Ukraine Schemes.
The number of people who can access this scheme is uncapped and is dependent on the capacity of the sponsors who come forward.
Guests will be able to live and work in the UK until their permission to stay expires and access benefits, healthcare, employment, and other support.
Those arriving need to meet standard security checks before being issued with a visa.
Sponsors and all adults in sponsors’ households will also be subject to initial Police National Computer (PNC), criminal records and Warnings Index checks by the Home Office. If a sponsor is a Ukraine scheme visa holder, there may be some delays to applications while further checks are undertaken.
Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales
Guests arriving from Ireland should only travel to the UK once they have a visa.
In Scotland and Wales, people from Ukraine can also enter through the Devolved Government Sponsorship route, with the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government acting as sponsors. New applications are paused at present but all existing applications to both schemes are continuing to be processed, and existing visa holders can continue to travel to Wales and Scotland and be supported.
Application process
Sponsors must be named individuals, not groups or organisations. Either a guest or a sponsor will be able to complete a single application for a visa. The form will ask the person completing it to name both parties.
Sponsors and guests will find each other and match themselves externally. There is no single route to matching, and both the sponsor and guest can use several ways to find a match. They could for example already have a relationship in place with a friend in the UK or Ukraine, they could be friends of friends, or could find a sponsor or guest through a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), charity, or another channel.
Process to apply
The process for most applicants is:
- Sponsor and guest find each other and agree to a match.
- Either the sponsor or the guest fills out the single visa application form online using both parties’ details.
- Passport numbers (alongside completion of eligibility questions and other personal details) for both guests and sponsors will be required to complete the application online. The guest will also need to upload a scan of their passport. There is no requirement to upload a copy of identity documents for any other member of the sponsor household.
- As of 7 December 2023, all new applicants will need to book an appointment to have their photograph and fingerprints taken at a visa application centre (VAC) as part of their application. Security checks on both the sponsor and guest are commissioned from the name data declared in the application form.
- The government will conduct several central government checks on the applicant, the sponsor, and adults in the sponsors household, to ensure their eligibility and suitability for the scheme. These checks must be completed before a visa can be issued.
- Once the visa is issued, the guest can then travel to the UK and should coordinate their arrival with the sponsor.
- Councils will be alerted as soon as an application is made and will be required to conduct accommodation and safeguarding checks. These are in addition to the checks carried out by central government. These should be conducted as soon as possible, but the issuance of a visa is not contingent on these checks being completed.
- Some councils will provide welcome arrangements for guests, with additional immediate support provided to guests where it is required.
- A single sponsor will be needed for each household. For example, where a couple wishes to sponsor, only one of them should be designated as the ‘sponsor’.
There is separate guidance about children applying to be sponsored by a parent or legal guardian.
Applications linked to non-consenting sponsors
If a council suspects that a sponsor has been named on a visa application without their consent, they should take all possible steps to verify if the application is genuine by:
- attempting to contact both guest and sponsor by an appropriate method and the sponsor should be given reasonable time to respond
- completing accommodation checks
Local council guidance or policy can be used to set out the checks process before a sponsor will be categorised as unaccountable; a council may assess this on a case-by-case basis.
For further information on the council’s discretion to fail checks on a sponsor/host, see Local council checks: Homes for Ukraine.
If the council is unable to contact the guest and sponsor or the accommodation check has failed, please record as soon as possible on Share Homes for Ukraine data system (“Share”). If the visa has yet to be issued, failed checks will prevent the application progressing and prevent further visas associated with that sponsor from being issued.
What to do in suspected cases of fraud
See Handling suspected fraud for further information on how council should handle suspected fraud cases.
If the council identifies cases where guests have been asked to pay for their visa, travel or immigration documentation by an individual or third-party group the guest should be encouraged to report this to Action Fraud.
If the council identifies cases in which a person’s information has been used without their permission, or duplicated across multiple applications, they should ensure the sponsor is marked as unsuitable in Share, and each guest attached to that sponsor amended to show accommodation fail. In Share, when selecting “Sponsor unsuitable (other reason)” the rationale for the decision should be provided clearly and succinctly in the free text box.
If a local authority suspects a Ukrainian guest possesses forged, false or counterfeit visas or travel documentation, they should contact the Home Office in line with this guidance: Report an immigration or border crime.
Travelling to the UK
If a visa is issued following the completion of security checks, guests who attended a visa application centre overseas as part of their application will receive a vignette (visa sticker) confirming their permission to travel. This will be valid for 90 days.
Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) expired on 31 December 2024. Guests can now prove their immigration status online, without a BRP. More information on eVisas can be found through the Online immigration status (eVisa) page.
Guests who made their application prior to 7 December 2023 and chose not to attend a visa application centre overseas may have been issued a permission to travel letter by UKVI confirming they were eligible to travel to the UK.
Permission to travel letters are no longer valid for travel and cannot be used for travel or entry to the UK.
Guests must not travel to the UK before they have submitted an entry clearance application and issued a visa. If a guest arrives after this date with a permission to travel letter, they may be refused entry and removed.
If a guest has been issued a permission to travel letter and still wishes to come to the UK under the Ukraine schemes, they will need to make a new application to the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
If a guest received a permission to travel letter as part of the application process and travelled to the UK before 00:01 GMT on 13 February 2025, they will have received a leave outside the immigration rules stamp on arrival in the UK. They needed to complete an application within the UK to vary this permission and provide their biometrics to receive the remainder of 18 or 36 months permission to remain from their date of arrival.
If a guest is in the UK and has applied to stay
If a guest applied to stay before 09:00 GMT on 13 August 2025 under the Ukraine schemes, their application will be processed. They will be invited to provide their fingerprints and a photograph (know as biometric information) at a UK Visa and Citizenship Application Service (UKVCAS) point.
If a guest is in the UK and has not applied to stay
If guests did not use the ‘UK immigration: ID check’ app or did not attend a visa application centre but were granted a permission to travel letter, they had to apply to provide their biometric information within 6 months of arriving in the UK. They would then have been able to stay in the UK for up to 18 or 36 months.
If a guest travelled to the UK using a permission to travel letter and did not apply to stay before 09:00 GMT on 13 August 2025, there is no longer a route for them to vary their stay in the UK under the Ukraine schemes. Guests can find out how to get immigration advice.
Updates to this page
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Information brought up to date.
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Updated 'Travelling to the UK' and 'Arriving in the UK' sections.
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Changes to the Homes for Ukraine sponsor eligibility criteria - to allow a parent or legal guardian to sponsor their child.
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1 October 2024: language updated.
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Update to use of permission to travel letters.
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Updated to reflect that the Home Office are replacing physical immigration documents with an eVisa.
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Guidance has been updated following changes to the Homes for Ukraine Immigration Rules on 19 February 2024.
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New information added outlining the steps councils should take if they suspect that a sponsor has been named on a visa application without their consent and that, if the sponsor is a Ukraine scheme visa holders, there may be delays to applications due to further checks.
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First published.